After a day of driving around visiting multiple sites we wanted to spend the entire day all at one place. We decided to spend the day at Taughannock Falls State Park. If you are not familiar with Taughannock Falls State Park its most well-known feature is its namesake, Taughannock Falls which plunges 215 feet past rocky cliffs that tower nearly 400 feet above the gorge.

Waterfall

One great quality of this park is the very easily navigable trail that you can hike to the base of the waterfall. The trail is not overly long and it is almost perfectly flat. You really can’t find a more ideal place for a leisurely hike to witness a great natural wonder. And it is perfect for us because we wanted to take our dogs and this is a hike that our dog, Brynn, can still make even with the issues she is dealing with. 

You really cannot go wrong with a visit to Taughannock Falls State Park. The perfect relaxing trail to hike along the gorge floor. The amazing 215 foot high waterfall. The impressiveness of the gorge itself. There is also a trail that climbs up to the rim of the gorge looking down on the stream below and you can hike a loop around the gorge.

There is a nice visitor center in the upper reaches of the gorge with the perfect overlook to view the gorge and waterfall from. You can choose to drive right to the visitor center to view the waterfall. There is also camping available. Aside from Taughannock Falls itself the best feature is that the stream that creates the falls continues through the state park and empties into Cayuga Lake. There is plenty of room to explore and admire the lake and the rest of nature around you as well as rest and have a picnic at the lake shore.

Cayuga Lake

And that is precisely what we decided to do. After we meandered out to see the waterfall with the dogs we unpacked the car, found just the right spot, and sat down with the dogs for a long, relaxing, uneventful picnic.

It can be so freeing to just sit in one spot and feel like there is literally nothing you have to be doing. As usual I brought my camera. I set the camera up on my tripod. I was not tied to the camera as I would be on a typical photography trip. Instead I would take a few pictures of the lake and then go lie back down on the picnic blanket and relax. Eating, playing with the dogs, reading, doing puzzles with my wife, and just laying down and doing nothing is how the day was spent.

Occasionally I would get up and take a few photos and maybe reposition the camera, but then I would quickly return to the pure relaxation that this trip was meant to be. I love photography and it brings me great joy, but it can also suck me in and become obsessive. Agonizing over creating a great photograph.

My wife often encourages me to enjoy nature through my own eyes not just through the lens of a camera. It is something that I struggle with. But I am working on it.

If you enjoy waterfall photography you will like this photo from a previous visit to Taughannock Falls.

Taughannock Falls is one of my favorite places to visit. Join the KRNaturalPhoto community below to learn about other natural areas I love to photograph.